Conveyer



A.' REDLER coNvEYER Filed July 2o, 19:58

INVENTOR BY f CANAL@ ATTOR EY i Patented Dec. 9, 1941 ooNVEYEn Hrnoldfltedlcr, Stroud; England, assignorrtolted'- lcrconveyory Company, Quincy; Massif, arcor-po..

ration ofMassachus etts Application July 20; 1938;,Se'rialNo. 220,227 In GreatBritain April 11; 1937 3 Claims; (01.,19-176J` This invention Arelates tot.v a; conveyer.

One-objectof the; invention is to provide a,

novel and highly'eflicienticonveyer of the type provided with a casing orv trough anda conveying element adapted to be drawn. therethrough, which may be economically manufactured, ,easily repairedv and is positive in operation.

A furtherrobjectof the invention is to provide a novel andv improved conveyer ofthe typeembodying a trough or casingA throughwhch flowable solid material may be conveyedin a continuous'stream and Whose construction is. such as'tofacilitate the driving of the endless conveying element by; which the material is conveyeci through the casing.

With these general objects inlview and such others as may hereinafter appear, the.v inven tion consists inthe conveyer and. inthe. various parts andiflights and toethis' endthe invention contemplates a conveyer'having va casingand'el conveying-element made up;Y of a relativelyjnare row'and closelyarticulatedchain disposed more orf-less centrally in the casing to be spaced from the AWalls thereof and arranged to pass over solider solid, depending; on the particular` purposes for which the conveyor is toA beused. For purposes of illustration an open flight conveyer has. been herein shown. The flights vare varfranged to extend a substantial distancelaterally,

' beyond each side of thedriv-ing chain .and'lto structures', arrangements and' combinationsA of,-

cooperatewith the Walls of. the casingY toeflif ciently convey the material. therethrough..

In general, the present.` invention contemplates a conveyer comprisingA av casingtprovided I Wthan inlet and an outlet, and. a conveying elementv In the drawing illustrating the. preferred em' bodiment ofthe invention, Fi'g. 1: is a front' elevation ofv a conveyer embo'dying'the inventiorr with a portion broken away; Fig; 2 is a side elevation of the conveyerI shown in Fig'.` 1; Fig. 3 is a perspective View of aI portion'of the conveying elementi; Fig. 4E is-anl enlarged detail View ini cross-section, italienon the line 4-4' of Fig. 1; and Figris an enlarged cross-sec'- tional View taken on the\lne15-Sv=ofiFig-..2.

having a` plurality of. transversely extended flights, arrangedrto berdrawn, through the. cas-- ing`v` to eiiectV the. conveyance therethrough of, the` material .to bev conveyed. The conveying, element` may andxpreferably will be provided Withfarplu Prior'y tothe presentinvention, it hasv been proposed to convey owable solid material through a casingbyA afconveyingv element made up of. ai series of chain-like or skeleton flights connected together and diiliculty hasbeen experienced in causingl such a skeleton chain-like structure to pass over the driving sprocket requiring specially designedv driving sprockets and in most instances enlargements in the casing to permit the chain to pass over the. sprocket. Other proposals' have included. the so-called'i cable t'ype ofskeletbnconvever illustrated in they pat'.- ent offRedler; No: 1,910,056'. Diiliculty has been experienced', however, in this latter type of' conveyer by reason of'Y the' continuity of' the, cable and inconvenience inA repairing, portions thereof, the difficultyv in controlling the elongation of the cable and in other practical details.

The present invention seeks toA combine the advantages of` the cable type of convex/er Yand those of the chain type of' conveyer and toimprove upon the operation, the drivingof'the conveyi'ngl element andthe ease of'l replacement of rality of` transversely extended. open flights-and;

may. beY arranged to A bek drawn, through the .conveyer by' driving means. including oneor more;

rotary elements over which: the conveying e1ement `iscaused to pass. In the past, the construction ofV the, conveying element', has'fbeen, such,I

as-to ynecessitate arelativelyy larg-edriving terrninal.r Inasmuch astheydriving element inthe.- iorm ofr a. sprocket Wasarranged to.` contact with eachindividual lightyasit, passed thereover, the pitch of the `driving sprocket and. consequentlyfY the diameterI thereof was, more or- 1essdeter-f mined by the distance aeant oifY the'flight.. .As aresult -ofthis construction.V it Wassometimes-nec` y essaryto.enlargerthecasing at ythe terminal ends` to permit the llightsfsuilicient clearancev whilepassi-ng over the terminals; yOne featurefof the present invention: contemplates the provisiony of a conveying-` elernent adapted to pass overvv a: errninal of substantia-llyI reduced dimensionsrso that the. necessity forvenlarging the terminal end; of the conveyer,A is eliminated,y and theY body` of .the casing may be of uniform, cross-sectionthroughout its entire length. One of the benets flowing from the -present construction-cicoriveyer resides in the ability to maintain arstandardsize of .driving element' regardless -ofthe spacing of theindividual `iiightsiofl the conveying, element and also,l the: pitchv of theaconveying;

illustrated therein, comprises a conveyer ofthe type forming the subject matter of the RedlerY Reissue Patent No. 18,445, issuedApril 26, 1932',y

which is characterized by-its ability to convey the nowable solid material in a continuous stream. The different features of the invention Referringvnow to the drawing, the conveyenhlo have, for purposes of illustration, been herein shown as embodied in a conveyer of the elevator type and as herein shown, I0 represents a casing or vconduit provided with an inlet I2 through which the material to be conveyed is introduced and an `,outlet I4 through which the material is discharged. A conveying element, indicated generally at I6, is' arranged to be drawn through the casing I0 to eifect withdrawal of the material therethrough. vIhe'conveying element I6 is ,arranged to pass over terminals I8, 2i) disposedat the ends of the conveyer. f

-In accordance with the present invention, the conveying element I6 of the present conveyer comprises a plurality of spaced open nights 22, of general D-shape, attached to an endless roller chain 24 at intervals along the length thereof. As illustrated in detail in Fig. 3, the straight side 26 of each night is recessed as at 28 and the ends of the flight are provided with connecting pads'SiI` adapted to be attached to either side of*v theroller chain 24. The roller chain being of relatively small pitch is adapted to pass overV relatively small sprockets 32, 34. disposed at either end of the 'conveyen In operation, the nights attached to the chain extend transversely to the direction of movementof the conveying element and" preferably the attachment of the flights is such that Va more or less equal path is swept by each night on either side of the chain. In other words there is a substantially equal area of flight on either side ofthe chain pivotsv 36 tending to maintain an equal balance as the nights'operate in `thelmaterial being conveyed.

As a result of the provision Vof the novel conveying element capable of passing over terminais of substantially reduced dimensions, the casing I6 through which the material is con veyed may be constructed of uniform cross-section throughout its entire length. As herein illustrated, see Fig. '5, the preferred form of the casing comprises twosubstantially identical half sections ,46 provided with flanges 42 along their longitudinal edges. Spacers inthe form of structural members 44 are inserted between the nanges and 'the structure is divided by a transverse partition member 46 separating one run of the conveyer from the other. videsy the'nterior of the structure into twosections, 'not quite symmetrical, the smaller section 48 comprising the working run of the onveyer and the larger section 56 comprising the idle or return run. The `structure is held together by bolts 52 which extend through the.nanges 42 retaining the spacersA and the partition therebetween.

" The driving terminal I8, as herein illustrated,

Vcomprises a -unitary structure adapted to be supported by the casing between the flanges voc 'I'he partition 46 di-V the opposite walls of the casing. As herein shown, the sprocket 32 is fast upon a shaft 54 which is supported in a bracket 56 which extends through the casing and is provided with end bearings 58, 66. The bearings extend beyond the casing on either side, the portion of the bracket within the casing being of a width to nt between the flanges 42 of the casing. The upper portion of the bracket is arcuately grooved to receive the shaft 54. In the construction of the conveyer the spacers 44 and the partitioning member 46 terminate a substantial distance from the top ofthe conveyer, leaving slots between `the flanges between which the bracket 56 is received. The bracket is slotted at 62 to clear the sprocket 32.

`positionvlfrom the top of the casing, when assembling, it may be bolted to the nanges 42 by When the unit'is dropped into bolts 64. i The top end of the casing may be closed by a cap 65 and the open portions between the nangesmay be filled lin by suitable spacers. The rigid constructionof the casing permits the top of the conveyer to be used to supporta motor 68 which drives the shaft 54 through the sprockets 'I8, 'I2and Vchain 14.

In operation, the portion of the conveying ele.

ment I6 extending through the return run 50 will be the slack side and in order to guide the element overl the lower terminal 26 and to maintain the proper tension a part of the wall of the return leg may comprise a tensioning element 'le herein shown pivotally connected at I8 and arranged to bear against the edges of the nights as they pass. Coil springs 86 yare provided between the partition member 46 and the tensioning element 'I6 in order to constrain the conveying element in a dennite pathto the point where it meets the. lower terminal 26. As illustrated herein, the lower terminal 20 may and preferably will comprise bearing members 82, 84 sup. ported between the flanges 42 of the casing and attached thereto bythe bolts 85. The idle sprocket 3,4 is fast upon the cross-shaft v86 sup-v portedV in the bearings. It will be observed that the terminal shafts 54 and 86 are of a diameter substantially equal tothe width of the space be'- tween thegnanges 42.

From the above description it will be `apparent that the-present construction of conveyer'combines the desirable features of a cable type and a chain typeof conveyer of the prior art without detracting from the operating eiiiciency of either type.

while the preferred embodiment of the invention has been herein illustrated and described, it will be' understood that the invention may be embodied in otherfo'rms within the scope of the following claims.

Having. thus described the invention, what is claimed is: ,o

' 1. In a conveyer for conveying nowable solid material in a continuousl stream comprising a casing having an inlet and an outlet, an endless conveying element/traversable through the casing. to effect theV .conveyance of the material therethrough, said conveying element comprising a relatively narrow and closely articulated chainof relatively small pitch, a pair of sprockets over o which said chain passes, said endless chain being provided with a series of spaced, transversely extended nights of open structure of semi-circular shape, the ends of the semi-circular portions :sbeing extended inwardly vand connected to op.

Posing links of said chain, the distance between said spaced nights being several times greater than said chain pitch.

2. A conveyer for conveying lowable solid material in a continuous stream comprising a casing, an endless conveying element comprising a relatively narrow roller chain of relatively small pitch having closely articulated and pivotally connected links, a pair of sprockets having teeth corresponding to said chain pitch and over which the chain passes, said chain being provided with a series of spaced transversely extended ights of open structure, each of said flights having a straight side interrupted to provide spaced ends terminating in pads, said pads being spaced to receive said chain therebetween and to be at tached thereto by two adjacent pivots of said chain so that said chain is disposed substantial- 1y medially of the ends of said side, the distance between said spaced flights being substantially greater than the pitch of said chain.

3. A conveyer for conveying owable solid material in a continuous stream comprising a casing having a transverse partition wall, an endless conveying element traversable through the casing comprising a relatively narrow roller chain of relatively small pitch, a pair of sprockets over which said chain passes, said conveying element being provided with a series of spaced transversely extended flights of open structure, each of said flights having a straight side interrupted substantially midway of its length to provide spaced ends, said ends being connected to said chain so that said chain is disposed substantially medially of said straight side, the distance between sad spaced flights being several times greater than the pitch of said chain, said sprockets being of relatively small diameter and mounted upon end portions of said partitioning Wall whereby the chain is enabled to run in close proximity to said partitioning Wall.

ARNOLD REDLER. 

